Ringing in the New Year at Kartchner Caverns State Park- Benson, AZ

We wish you a healthy and prosperous 2012!  We are ringing in the New Year at Kartchner Caverns State Park near Benson.  This morning we explored the wet cave on the Rotunda/Throne Room tour and tomorrow morning we will explore the Big Room.  Pictures are not allowed in the cave itself, but I can tell you that God’s hand is at work in the cave and it is amazing! (Just tune out the “hundreds of thousands of years” as the ranger explains the stalactite and stalagmite formations.)  Kartchner caverns is a wet and warm cave which is very interesting in this arid desert land!

We are tucked into the state park’s campground and are enjoying temps in the low 70’s.  A short walk from the campground to the Discovery Center and we were on our way into the caverns!  A tram takes you from the center to the cave opening.

Then after being properly informed about protecting the cave, we were allowed to enter.  Strategic lighting highlights the soda straws, columns, stalactites and stalagmites, and drapery formed from calcite.  There is also a music & light show towards the end of the tour to highlight the largest column in Arizona, Khubla Khan.

Once fueled up with lunch, we took the dogs on the Foothills Loop Trailhead, where we enjoyed grand vistas on a trail relatively unoccupied!

Traversing 2.5 miles up and around the hills that cover the caverns, we wonder how big is this cavern?

We look forward to experiencing the Big Room tour on New Year’s Day! 

Usery Mountain Regional Park- Mesa, AZ

We spent the first part of our Christmas Break among the cactus of the Sonoran Desert while staying at Usery Mountain Regional Park near Mesa, Arizona.  Usery Mountain is a Maricopa County Regional Park with large camping sites that have a state park feel!

The park is close to the 202 for ease of travel  to points in Mesa and made a great stop in order for us to get a few replacement pieces for the new Road Warrior and have a wonderful barbecue with family in the area! 

The park features a 5 star archery range with 4 miles of trails to various targets.  Caleb pulled out his recurve bow and got started!

We saw coyote, javelina, mule deer, turkey, quail, rabbit, black bears and more!  Of course, they were of the burlap variety.

Eventually we called it a day and headed back to the campground to plan out our next adventure.  There are many multi-use trails at the park and we decided to try out the popular Wind Cave trail. 

Two miles up and two miles down with a 600 foot elevation change to scamper up the decomposed granite trail of Pass Mountain to reach Wind Cave. 

We hiked up to where you can see the green band of lichen on the mountain and kept going until we got to … the cave!

We decided “cave” may be a misnomer as this seemed more like an “alcove”, but it was a great shady spot to grab a snack and peer over the valley below.

Being the most popular trail, there was a steady stream of people going both directions.  Going down sure seemed easier than going up, however a few others we saw along with myself, slipped on the granite onto our rumps.  Fueled up with lunch, Caleb took another run at the archery range.

Then it was time for our (second) trip to Bass Pro!  New shoes were on the list this time, along with some more archery supplies!

Tomorrow we point the truck to the south as we venture to one of Arizona’s State Parks! 

Christmas Break 2011- Road Warrior

I’m not sure how Santa managed, but he delivered a beautiful Heartland Road Warrior in time for Christmas Break!  We waved a fond farewell to our Montana Mountaineer, a rig that had served our travels well.  We look forward to many more wonderful journeys in our new 5th wheel.

Introducing to you our Heartland Road Warrior RW305 Toyhauler!  Measuring in at 35’, it is the same length as we are accustomed to.  Noticeably different is the 10’ garage in the rear that easily accommodates bikes/gear, large dogs and adds an extra ‘room’ for Caleb! 

Stay tuned, the dormant travel blog will awaken as we travel the next two weeks around the deserts of Arizona and California!

Arches National Park- Moab, Utah

We climbed the hill from the visitor center at Arches National Park just outside Moab, Utah to claim our site, number 21,  at the Devils Garden Campground.  The dry campground is 18 miles from the visitor center, but the view from the site is unbeatable!

We came here to see arches and have seen everything from the Double Arch to the Double O arch to the Delicate Arch to the Sand Dune Arch to the Navajo Arch to the Partition Arch…(gasp)…We’ve seen so many arches of all shapes and sizes!

We were in awe of Landscape Arch which spans more than a football field in length according to the park newspaper.  In the past two days, we’ve hiked and hiked, more than 10 miles total!

Of course, there was some rest time available for making drawings in the deep sand!

Also the weather was perfect for Caleb to set up his tent for a night sleeping under the full moon, shadowing the distant arches.

We hiked to the upper viewpoint to see Utah’s iconic Delicate Arch.  (Notice the people on the ridge to the left!)  But our longest hike was from the campground out past Landscape Arch to Double O Arch!

We scrambled up slick rock and followed the cairns up along the trail, traversing a fin to get to our destination.  The camera seems to hide well the steep ledges on both sides!

Fall is an ideal time to visit.  The temperatures are in the low 70’s during the day, making hikes very comfortable and lows are in the 40’s, making sleeping after a long day a welcome respite.

Fall Break 2011- Utah

We hooked up the 5er and made our way north through Arizona’s Monument Valley on our way to Utah for Fall Break!  We have a week off of school at a perfect time, when the weather turns cool enough to go for hikes.

We stopped for a few nights in Blanding, Utah while we wait for our reservation date at Arches National Park near Moab.  We originally tried to secure a spot at the Sand Island BLM campground near Bluff, but with the weekend in full swing, it seems lots of people are taking advantage of the cooler weather.   So then we tried for an RV Park in Bluff but they were full at 2 in the afternoon on Saturday.  We continued into Blanding, fueled up at the Shell and paid for a night at the Kampark located next door.  Nice wide, level gravel sites with trees and full hook-ups.  That works!

Blanding is very close to Natural Bridges National Monument.  So we loaded up the dogs, packed a lunch and took a Sunday drive.  We were greeted with magnificent views of 3 natural bridges.

We hiked down the trail to stand near the Owachomo bridge.  Amazing how massive this natural wonder is!  It stands 106 feet high, spans 180 feet, is 27 feet wide and only 9 feet thick!  A stream no longer runs under this bridge as is does under the Sipapu and Kachina bridges.    

The bridges are formed from moving water eroding the sandstone, whereas the arches we will soon be seeing are formed from erosion due to frost and seeping moisture.

Looking forward to more exploring!

57 Days & 5,733 Miles

We made our way through New Mexico and across Arizona to arrive at our sticks and stucco in the Verde Valley.  We’ve been on the road 57 days and logged 5,733 miles!  We’ve experienced wonderful adventures, seen beautiful places, spent valuable time with family, and were blessed with safe travels!  We’ve paid as much as $4.39 a gallon for diesel in Torrey but the average seemed to be about $3.85 a gallon.  We visited 2 national parks, 3 national monuments, 5 state parks.  We visited Northwestern Ontario as well! 

As we prepare for the upcoming school year, which starts the first of August in Arizona, we look forward to weekends in the forest camping with friends, traveling a week in October, two weeks at Christmas, and a week in March. 

Life is good!

Traveling South- Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico

Our pace is quickening and we are making travel day after travel day.  We’ve hit the heat of the summer and our time is wrapping up.  We left the Black Hills and traveled through Wyoming.

We made our way along the US Highways before hitting the Interstate.

We made our way into Colorado for an overnight at Boyd Lake State Park near Loveland.  It was hot!  The AC was cranking and although we’ve enjoyed many Colorado State Parks, this was not one of them.  We pushed on today through Colorado.

We crossed into New Mexico to stay near Raton at the NRA Whittington Center.

We cranked up the AC again and waited for the sun to tuck behind some clouds before venturing outside.   We are aimed towards Arizona and have a few travel days ahead of us before arriving at our sticks and stucco.  School will be starting soon in Arizona.

Spearfish, South Dakota

The Elk at the Wylie Park zoo were cooling off in the pond, preparing for the hot weather!  When we arrived and unhooked at Wylie, our landing gear wasn’t sounding too good.  We replaced the motor a few years back, but it was sounding bad again.  So I researched the problem, and we found out that you need to grease the inside of the gears…so off to Tractor Supply to buy some 90W oil.  But we were too late and the gears failed…so off to Tractor Supply to buy some bottle jacks!

After a few calls to dealers with no parts in stock, we called Venture, the gear manufacturer, and had the parts sent overnight to our next stop in Spearfish.  With the bottle jacks in place, we got the trailer jacked up and onto the truck.  We were ready for our drive across South Dakota.  We  crossed back over US Highway 12, which we crossed a few weeks ago, but this time the “build-up” was a muddy mess!

This area of the road was completely flooded and they built it up with a gravel surface.  We crossed it a few weeks ago when it was dry and in much better shape!  This single track, rutted, mud track is one to avoid.  Although it is posted 20 mph, we were only able to go about 10-15!  After safely crossing, the fog eventually burned off and we traveled west to get to the northern Black Hills.  We arrived at Chris’ Camp in Spearfish about 20 minutes ahead of our part.  Good timing!

Thankfully Chris is gifted mechanically and was able to fix our landing gear!  (Make sure you check your system and grease it periodically, if it’s a Montana it’s not a sealed system. )  The Spearfish Arts Festival is this weekend and we decided to take in some of the local flavor.  The campground has a small petting farm with daily feedings for the kids to enjoy!

With the mercury rising, we also checked out the Spearfish Aquatic center and are becoming connoisseurs of local water parks!  A trip to the art festival on Saturday led to some red faces and we retreated back to the air conditioning.  Summer has arrived in the Black Hills with temps in the mid 90’s.  Perhaps a drive through the canyon with the meandering creek will cool us off!

Canadian Wildlife & Stateside

We enjoyed two weeks in Northwestern Ontario visiting family, fishing, swimming, watching wildlife, & relaxing by the lake.That is not a dog, that is a Wolf pup!  He is feasting on some fish guts left on the rock.  We have been hearing them howl and Caleb has definitely seen the most!  He saw the adult climb out of the lake and while fishing saw two adults with their two pups along the shore, plus this pup!  His wolf count is at 6!  Chris and I saw an adult trotting along the road into our campground on our way home one evening and watched it pass through the meadow behind our site!  It was definitely the year for wolf sightings!

Caleb counted the number of fish species he has caught this summer…6 again… Rainbow Trout (in Custer State Park, SD), Lake Trout, Northern Pike, Walleye, Rock Bass, and Smallmouth Bass.

He spent time swimming in the lake with his cousins and we thought he might grow gills and become a fish himself!

When not submerged in the water, he was up on skis!

Our two weeks passed by very quickly and it was time to pack up and head back to the U.S.  We had an easy border crossing at Baudette, MN and altered our “usual” driving route.  The MN government is shut-down and that means the State Parks are closed!  We ended up driving and driving when our stopping plans were foiled.  We stopped at the Dakota Magic Casino at Exit 1 on I29 in North Dakota.  They have an RV “park” but the sites are very short, so we found a nice spot in the parking lot for the night.  The extra driving made for a short trip into Aberdeen, South Dakota for another stay at the Wylie Park Campground for Caleb’s 11th birthday!  After lunch, we made our way to the Aberdeen Aquatic Center for Caleb to plunge down the waterslides, tube around the lazy river and dive off the high dive! 

We are headed south and west…I think a stop in the northern Black Hills is next!